Finally—one iTunes Store to rule them all (in Europe)

Finally—one iTunes Store to rule them all (in Europe):

European music buyers may finally have the freedom to purchase songs from a universal pan-European iTunes Store. The European Copyright Commission has proposed new licensing rules that would allow music retailers like iTunes and Amazon to offer a unified music store throughout the EU and force licensing bodies to up their game.
Our European readers cringe at the thought of the current digital music landscape. Unlike the US, online music in Europe is typically only sold through one country's stores at a time—this is despite the EU's efforts to effectively eliminate the borders of its 27-country membership when it comes to products and services. As such, if you're in Spain and want to buy a song from France's iTunes Store, you can't—the store blocks you from making the purchase because you aren't in France. This has led to companies like Apple rolling out individual music stores for each European country with a large enough market, but the fragmentation has caused nothing but headaches for end users who just want to listen to their favorite music.
The reason for this is the licensing limitations—licenses are typically handed out on a per-country basis, leading to complicated and confusing limits on who can buy what music from which online store. And as highlighted by the Commission's proposal, there have been numerous cases in which the royalties collected on songs ended up being lost or never paid out to artists and songwriters due to this cross-country licensing complication, further showing the need for unified music stores across the EU.
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